Mavs send Barnes to Kings
Anthony Davis is still a member of the New Orleans Pelicans.
By 2 p.m. Thursday, that may change.
Davis remained in place Wednesday, though the run-up to the NBA's annual trade deadline picked up steam in plenty of other locales around the league — including Dallas, where the Mavericks took Harrison Barnes out of their win over Charlotte in the third quarter because he's about to get moved to Sacramento, according to two people familiar with the negotiations there.
“I got word of it during the game,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said.
Tobias Harris going to Philadelphia from the Los Angeles Clippers as the centerpiece of a six-person, four-draft-pick swap was the first notable deal of Trade Deadline Eve. Later, Chicago agreed to acquire Otto Porter Jr. from Washington for Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis. And as the day was drawing to a close, the Mavs and Kings agreed to swap Barnes for Zach Randolph and Justin Jackson.
The Bulls-Wizards and MavsKings deals were both confirmed to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity by people directly involved in the negotiations, all speaking on condition of anonymity pending the mandatory NBA trade calls to make the deals official.
“Part of the business,” New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said.
And business, on Wednesday, was busy — as expected.
The Dallas-Sacramento deal will be significant for both sides.
The Kings are trying to get into the Western Conference playoffs, and now can add Barnes to their promising young core. Barnes has a $25.1 million player option for next season. Meanwhile, Dallas — which got Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. from New York last week in a massive deal — will have tons of salary-cap space to spend in the coming months as it looks to add more pieces around Luka Doncic.
Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott went to the 76ers, while Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala and Landry Shamet went to the Clippers. Philadelphia — with an eye on moving way up from the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference — also gave up a protected 2020 first-round pick, a 2021 firstrounder that was once owned by Miami, and second-rounders in 2021 and 2023 through Detroit.
Porter will be headed to Chicago when the NBA signs off the terms, with the Wizards taking back Parker and Portis. Parker has been bracing for a trade, and moving Porter helps slice a major chunk off Washington's anticipated luxury-tax bill at the end of the season.
Another deal with tax ramifications was worked out between Miami and Phoenix. The Heat sent Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington to the Suns for Ryan Anderson, helping alleviate the logjam of guards that Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has been dealing with all season — plus considerably lowering the Heat's expected luxury tax bill.
Meanwhile, Davis remained in place and out of uniform.
The Pelicans haven't played him since he and agent Rich Paul went public last week with their trade request. In case a deal can be made, it's not worth it for the Pelicans to risk an injury.